We are HERE!!

Well, it has been a LONG, LONG time since I have updated anything on this page. Life has been busy, wonderful and full with homeschooling my fourth grader and kindergartener. We are loving life and enjoying learning, exploring, and experiencing things together!

I will be returning here though as I will be online more often. My kiddo has requested setting up her own little corner in the blogging world to share on -- and in my mind I see creativity, computer skills, writing, editing, planning, etc. She is currently working through her 'plan' and presenting her ideas to us soon and then with that I will be monitoring her work and guiding her through some basic skills to publish. We'll see how it goes!! In the mean time, here are these two little people enjoying something they both love -- science!

Hudson, Kindergarten

Holly, 4th Grade

Tissue Paper Garden

A beautiful spring art project Holly created a week or two ago has been a wonderful addition to our art wall. This project was so much fun and produced such great results that she wants to create a much larger version that will include more nature to put in her bedroom as art. This child loves art!

The project was simple and with easy, around the house supplies. We took a piece of thick cardboard and she painted it a light yellow and then watering down a white Elmers glue and using a paint brush she decoupaged a whole sheet of lime green tissue paper over the whole board, this was her canvas to work on. The cardboard was not a lighter color surface to create on, however if you have a white canvas or white cardboard I do believe the tissue colors would be a lot more vibrant.

Next Holly used an array of tissue colors I keep on hand for art to cut out grass shapes, leaves and various styles of flowers. She then layered her grasses (in different greens) and added a few leaves. When you add a piece of tissue you use a paint brush and paint a light layer of watered glue and place the tissue, then paint over the tissue gently with another light layer of watered glue, ensuring it is fully covered in glue. After she had her greenery completed she then added her different styles of flowers repeating the same process with gluing, tissue, gluing. Careful with the glue as if that hand is not gentle or rushed you can smudge the tissue up or break it, creating frustration. Once the final design is completed she used a larger brush and painted one more layer of watered glue over the entire artwork. Allow to dry and display.

Mushroom Farm

Earlier this month we visited an organic mushroom farmer with our Nature Club. This small farm, Provision Mushrooms, was such a joy to visit. They did a wonderful job with our kiddos and their various ages. Everything was hands on and all questions were answered well! The kids learned how mushroom grow (pretty sterile conditions, who knew?) and the process - then they proceeded to start their own mushroom kits of blue oyster mushrooms. Our kit is doing really well!! The kids had a great time and we learned Hudson likes enoke mushrooms - Yay!!

 

Second Grade!!

Today is the official start for Holly in second grade! She is excited for the year ahead, many fun projects, field trips, art projects, cursive hand writing, lapbooks and outings... I am as well!

Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature

We recently purchased Outside Your Window: A First Book of Nature by Nicola Davies, illustrated by Mark Hearld from our local learning store. The minute I saw this book I thumbed the pages and immediately fell in love! So much so, that I didn't even look at the price of the book - I just bought it. The artwork is simply beautiful, the colors are rich and embracing, the whimsy is perfect and the poetry throughout is simply sweet!

This has been a great addition to our collection of books (and it is a HUGE collection) - but it is one we read a lot! There are so many different nature poems falling under many topics we cover all of the time, making it a great fit for our typical life style and a simple way to include just a bit more poetry. I adore poetry and the kids seem to really enjoy it too - so this book is a natural fit for us. It is a book I would recommend for any family who enjoys the natural world, art and poetry!!

Felted Rocks

We are still enjoying, very slowly, our journey through A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 - this has been a GREAT book to read together. Taking our time has been really enjoyable as we can learn about items on a bit deeper level, enjoy some special projects and let it all soak in.

Today we finished rereading the section on harvesting wool and the uses for it. I have a plan to do a larger felting project for Holly but to start I decided to do a felted rock project. Felting rocks is super simple, fun and leaves you with a sweet little decorative rock to display. A small treasure!

First we chose a smooth river rock. Then Holly chose from our assortment of wool (Thank You to a friend of Bryan's who bought this for us to use, so very sweet!!!!). She broke off a few small chunks. We got a bowl of very warm, soapy water. Taking the rock you wrap it in your first wool choice, dip in the warm water and start forming it around the rock. You add layers as you work with it, making sure to agitate it so the wool fibers all grab and slowly form a solid piece. Keep adding wool and working it in the water, rolling it in your hands, lightly rubbing, rinsing and repeating. Once we had the desired look we then squeezed the water out the best we could, then in a small towel and let them to dry. 

They turned out great and were a lot of fun to do!!! Now she has a better understanding of what the final wool product can and will do... soon we will be starting a bigger project!

Sun Prints

During our beautiful Spring weather we took advantage of sunshine in many ways... water play, nature walks, tons of park play, the zoo and making sun prints!

Holly got a little sun print kit for her birthday last year - we pulled it out and enjoyed it. She headed out to collect a few items from the yard... being the kid that she is, she was to excited to thoughtfully get materials that might offer a more unique sun print. With dandelion, clover and grass in hand she designed a little montage along with some prints of bugs included in the kit. It only sits in the sun for a mere couple minutes then you bring it in and rinse the paper. You have a reversed negative print from the final product until you rinse it - then it slowly fades to a much darker print over the next 24 hours or so.

This is always a lot of fun for Holly!!! I really need to encourage her to try some more unique items to design with though.

Lady Bug Release

This week we hosted a lady bug release with several homeschool friends at a local park. This is our second year doing this and something the kids really enjoy! Holly made a comment that usually she is out looking for various critters to catch and observe, but this time she is setting them free. True!!!

We got a couple containers of lady bugs to release. The kids all shared the knowledge they had on these little beetles, we discussed a nice way to release them and then the kids got to work. We spread them at a local park (with permission). After releasing the ladybugs we spent a beautiful afternoon enjoying the park with our friends. A walk around the pond, a splash in the creek and then a lot of time playing. The day was wonderful!!!